MetroFocus Student Mental Health Week: Night 3 - A Mental Health Conversation: Black Youth Suicide

MetroFocus: The Podcast

All this week, MetroFocus will bring you stories on mental health from a variety of perspectives. We'll hear families, students, and doctors discuss this urgent issue and explore emerging solutions. Tonight, the deaths of former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst and musician Ian Alexander Jr., the son of actress Regina King, have put a spotlight on the rise in suicide rates in the Black community. The disturbing trends show that Black children and teens are being impacted more than ever: from 1991 to 2019, self-reported suicide attempts among Black adolescents rose nearly 80%. Though in the past, suicide was historically viewed as a “white problem,” Black youth are now twice as likely to lose their lives to suicide as white children. The stigmas surrounding mental health, a lack of professional resources, online cyberbullying, racial injustice, and the isolation caused by the pandemic - can all be to blame for this troubling phenomenon. Joining MetroFocus to discuss the issue are: Shana Pinnock, a journalist with lived suicide experience as she had attempted to take her life; Dionne C. Monsanto, a mental health advocate who is a suicide loss survivor who lost her daughter; and Dr. Michael Lindsey, the Executive Director of the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research at New York University, discuss how we can best support struggling young people.

Click here for more information about the Student Mental Health Matters Toolkit for Educators